Cargill Dow, the company that makes the proprietary, corn-based plastic resins marketed under the NatureWorks® PLA and Ingeo™ fiber brand names will be known as NatureWorks LLC. The name change follows Cargill's decision to acquire The Dow Chemical Company's interest in Cargill Dow LLC, a 50:50 joint venture formed in 1997 to commercialize polylactic acid biopolymers. The newly named company will function as a stand-alone entity owned by Cargill.

Peter Jamieson, mgr., food applications and technical service at SPI Polyols, Inc., will speak on "Polyol Usage in Confectionery Applications" at the PMCA Technical Conference in Hershey, PA on April 12. This will be a general overview of the properties of polyols in foods, followed by specific examples in selected confectionery products.

Harte Foods, a dessert manufacturing company specializing in ingredients and food service, announced the completion of its acquisition of Chalet Desserts, a provider of gourmet cheesecakes and other high-end desserts. Products produced by the combined company will offer customers a broad product capability including cookie dough, cheesecakes, truffle cake, tiramisu and many other gourmet desserts. The acquisition expands production capabilities for Harte into these exciting categories of baked products.

The Solae Company has reached a settlement in an isoflavone concentrate patent infringement suit the company filed in 2003 against Archer Daniels Midland Company and Amerifit Nutrition, Inc. According to the terms of the settlement, ADM agreed to purchase The Solae Company's global isoflavone concentrate business including The Solae Company's extensive isoflavone concentrate patent portfolio for an undisclosed amount. The Solae Company originally filed suit against ADM and Amerifit in June 2003 in the Federal District Court of Eastern Missouri asserting that products marketed by both companies directly infringed on certain patent rights of The Solae Company.

Serac, Inc. , a manufacturer of filling and capping equipment was recently informed that its six-year-old ESL R24V12/1080 machine owned by Smith Dairy Products, Richmond, Ind., meets FDA standards to package products for U.S. Military distribution.

Smith Dairy was recently awarded a contract to supply ESL (extended shelf life) eggnog to the military.

If you have a Supplier News item, send it to Chief Editor David Phillips at phillipsd@bnpmedia.com.